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Arsium
Arsium Is the 28th element on the Elemental Table, and the rarest and most coveted material known to exist in the universe, described as so rare that "A planet considered extremely rich in the stuff could be mined down to the mantle, and you'd still only have a few hundred tons of the stuff, if you were lucky", which was true. It was extremely rare to find locations with viable veins of ore containing the material, hence it was usually extracted as a by-product of other mining processes, existing in trace amounts near veins of other precious prismatic elements. The material was also extremely difficult to work with, due to its extremely high material strength, melting and boiling point (being higher than that of any other known element or compound by a respectable margin), and from having unique properties in that it could convert energy from one state to another. Pure Arsium samples were occasionally produced and studied for its potential uses, but it was often alloyed with other metals in practical applications. These alloys often had very low concentrations of Arsium due to its extreme rarity, but even at concentrations of only a few percent they had drastic effects on the materials it was alloyed with. Most well known uses of Arsium were in the drill tips of Terravore technicals (1.3%), animus suits (5-15%), and Spectre bombers (0.5%). In order to forge or refine high purity Arsium, samples had to be placed in an Materium forge, which suspended the samples in force fields and heated them past their melting points, then used harmonic gravitational and magnetic waves to separate or combine the Arsium with different materials. At lower purities and in certain alloys (below around 1% purity), more conventional metalworking techniques became feasible. Another notable property of the material was its extreme density, that of over 300g per centimeter cubed. This property could be both a blessing and a curse for the material, depending upon how it was used. Past a certian point (20% Arsium) Arsium became impossible to work, even with the most powerful Materium forges. However higher purity uncuttable fibers Arsium could still be produced (up to a purity of about 35%) past this point the material began to assume extremely bizarre arbitrary properties. Within the Gauss Dominion, the existence of Arsium was largely kept away from the public eye, and citizens within the public education system were taught that the element existed only as a theoretical material that had as of yet to be discovered in nature of synthetically produced in a Materium forge. (Though it was true; Arsium was impossible to produce within a Materium forge.) Experimentation with pure and less-than-pure samples by private companies was forbidden. Because mining contractors typically extracted it as a by-product of mining other materials, it was easy for Sector 8 agents to ship off the excess Arsium to a facility, and pay the mining company rather handsomely to keep quiet or sell to other buyers. Those with all but the most elite level of clearance were told that things otherwise made of Arsium were made of "Mazunsium Nanocrystal" which had to be specially manufactured on the atomic scale. Category:Elements